Apollo boosts Fantasy Earnings players

Leaders in fantasy trading game shun Google

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — A prescient play by two traders on the Apollo Group trounced all comers in the second round of the MarketWatch Fantasy Earnings Trader.

Many portfolios saw their fortunes rise in the after hours on Thursday and into Friday’s close as Google
GOOG, +1.04%
sailed to a whopping 11% gain, closing at $601.45 per share. Google reported a significant increase in third-quarter profit that topped Wall Street estimates, thanks to rising demand for the search giant’s online advertising. Google quarterly profit soars 32%.

But the pick that landed two players, w888 and Exico, to the top of this week’s round of the Fantasy Earnings Trader was an all-in short position in the Apollo Group
APOL, +0.59%
Apollo plummeted nearly 27% over the week. See Week 2 rankings.

Larry McMillan, editor of the MarketWatch Options Trader, led the professional players for the second week in a row. McMillan ranked 102 out of 4,868 players participating in the event. McMillan went long on Google and short Apollo. He also went long on CSX
CSX, -0.44%
equally distributing assets across all three positions.

Robert Powell and Cody Willard were not far behind, ranking 159 and 250, respectively, in Week 2. Powell, who edits Retirement Weekly, Also shorted Apollo and carried additional wins with a short position in J.P. Morgan Chase
JPM, -0.29%
and a long in WD-40
WDFC, +0.16%
but took a loss on a long in Mattel
MAT, -0.74%

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.